The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-07-21
the bottom, but hangs in a fringe
like stalactites over the edge.

the bottom, but hangs in a fringe
like stalactites over the edge.
AN ERUPTION DESCRIBED.
The elevation on which we stood
was separated from the volcanic
peak by a chasm of considerable
depth, yet there was a continuous
humming vibration of the solid rock
beneath our feet, and the air was
filed with a grinding noise, as though
the universe were rended at its foun-
dations. Tie fiery convulsions Of
which l have spoken were accompa-
panied by dull detonations, proceed
ing apparently from far in the lnte-
rior of the mountain, and fakes Of
gray ashes and fragments of vol
canic stone lying all about warned
us that when in active operation the
crater would render our position de-
cidedly unsafe. The table-laDd from
which VIC obtained our view sweeps
westward with a gentle curve, and at
a distance OF about a mile we found
favorable camping place. From
there, at about dusk on the second
day, we had fine view Of short
but violent eruption. Warned by a
succession Of dull reports we hurried
to the highest elevation, and a mo-
ment or two later saw vivid column
Of flame shoot upward to an immense
height. The top broke and fell back,
exactly as some clever piece of pyro-
technics, but it had scarcely fallen
before another and another column
of fire leaped toward the heavens.
From this point we could not see the
crater itself, but tremendous Sizing
and kissing noise reached our ears
and dominated over even the louder
crashes of the eruption. The skies,
beautifully clear, and with that i'm
mense appearance Of depth charac-
tcristic Of the altitude, caught the re-
Election and turned to ruddy dome,
while the refracted light outlined our
shadows as sharply as an electric
lamp. During the eruption, which
lasted about fifteen minutes, there
was no distinct earthquake shock, but
the incessant tremor and vibration
materially increased. A tin cup Of
water on the ground was half emptied
Of its contents, and our effects, which
had been placed in general heap,
were scattered about promiscpously.
BY reason of our elevation we had
no fear of an overflow Of lava, but
we learned by investigation next
day that none had made its ap-
pearance. The only trace, in fact,
that remained Of the convulsion at
daylight were the numerous blocks
Of stone which had been loosened
from the mountain side and hurled
into the gulches and gorges.
THE DESTRUCTION OF BAyIsPE.
AS our purpose was simply to OBJ
tain definite assurance that volcano
really did exist, we made prepare.
tions for our return on the day fol.
lowing the eruption. The trip back
to Bavispe was unaccompanied by
special incident, but there, by fortu-
nate accident, We learned something
Of the history Of the phenomena.
On last April a German named
Schultz and a half-cast Mexican
named Alvarez came to Bavispe for
the purpose of prospecting for miner
ais. They were in Bavispe at the
time of the first eruption, saw the de-
struction Of the town, and remained
for some days afterward; but when
wepassed throughon ourway to thevoI
cano they were both at Bacarac, little
town lying some distance southwark.
During our absence Alvarez had re.
turned and he was the first person we
met coming in. He is rather intel
ligent man, has lived for eight or ten
years past in the United States and
talks English fuently. 1t was from
him that we obtained an account of
the extraordinary changes the con-
vulsion has wrought in the topog-
raphy of the country, When be first
came to Bavispe ragged spur of the
range which now appears extending
northward from the crater was not
visible, but hidden by an elevation
thickly covered with brush and pin
ion trees. On the morning succeed
ing the first tremendous shock he was
amazed to lind that the woods had
disappeared and in their place this
section Of the range. The place
intervening had become depression,
across a portion of which we had
passed. This accounted for the fs-
sures and chasms which had so i'm